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STRIKES. 



grant " (1895), containing the papers describing 

 his first voyage to America. 



STRIKES. The great railroad strike of July, 

 1894, was probably the most important effort 

 ever made by organized labor in the United 

 States. The origin was, apparently : First, the 

 decision of Judge Caldwell, of the United States 

 circuit court, early in the year, that the em- 

 ployees of the Union Pacific Railroad had a full 

 right to act as an organized body to protect their 

 interests and maintain their wages; second, the 

 order issued, in April, by Judge Dundy, of the 

 United States district court, directing the re- 

 ceivers of the said company to restore the wages 

 of the employees to the former rate ; third, and 

 more directly, the strike of the carpenters in the 

 car works at" Pullman, 111. The latter began in 

 a demand. May 5, for an increase of wages to 

 the scale of 1893. On May 9 George M. Pull- 

 man, president of the company, told a delega- 

 tion of strikers that it was impossible to raise 

 their wages. The reason of the company, as ex- 

 pressed then and afterward, was that the demand 

 for cars had fallen off ; that the men had been 

 kept at work at a loss to the company: and that 

 the company was actually losing money. On 

 May 11 about 2,000 of the employees struck, and 

 threats were made to force the men working at 

 St. Louis. Ludlow, Ky., and Wilmington, Del., 

 to quit work. 



The American Railway Union, an organization 

 of recent growth, had just finished a successful 

 fight with the Great Northern Railroad on the 

 question of wages. On May 9 the vice-president 

 of the union, George W. Howard, promised the 

 Pullman employees the aid of the union in declar- 

 ing a boycott if their demands were not agreed 

 to. On May 16 the Order of Railway Conductors 

 and the Brotherhoods of Locomotive Engineers, 

 Brakemen, and Switchmen announced that they 

 would not strike in sympathy with the Pullman 

 men ; but on the same day an assessment of 3 

 cents was levied on the members of the Railway 

 Union to assist the strikers. On May 20 the 

 strikers announced themselves as ready to arbi- 

 trate, but President Pullman refused to treat 

 with them except as individuals. Even arbi- 

 tration, it was declared, could not make the com- 

 pany able to pay higher wages. 



On June 13 the Railway Union and the 

 Knights of Labor in Chicago effected a coalition. 

 On June 15 a national convention of the Railway 

 Union met in Chicago, and a committee was ap- 

 pointed to confer with the Pullman officials. On 

 June 16 the general manager of the Pullman 

 Company informed this committee that the 

 company had nothing to arbitrate. On June 22 

 the Railway Union, in session in Chicago, de- 

 cided to declare a boycott against the Pullman 

 cars unless the company consented within five 

 days to arbitrate its differences with its striking 

 employees at Pullman. An assessment of 5 

 cents a week was made on all members of the 

 union for the relief of the strikers. The officials 

 of the Pullman Company sai* 1 they would enter- 

 tain no proposal of arbitration from the Ameri- 

 can Railway Union. On June 23 Western rail- 

 roads were reported as not alarmed over the 

 proposed boycott of Pullman cars, but on June 

 25 the General Managers' Association met at 

 Chicago and decided to prevent the Railway 



Union from disturbing traffic. The same day 

 about 350 employees of the Pullman Company 

 at St. Louis, and 150 at Ludlow, Ky., struck in 

 obedience to orders from the Railway Union. On 

 June 26, at noon, the boycott of the American 

 Railway Union against Pullman cars went 

 into effect. The Pullman strike had now been 

 in progress six weeks, arid it was evident that 

 the company did not intend to yield, and all 

 that had been accomplished was to throw 2,000 

 or 3,000 men into idleness. The union then de- 

 clared a boycott. In Chicago it did not prevent 

 trains with Pullman cars from leaving on June 

 26, but in the evening the Illinois Central Rail- 

 road switchmen struck, in obedience to orders 

 from the union. On June 27 the boycott ex- 

 tended to all the principal roads entering' Chicago. 

 The Railway Union ordered out the men on the 

 Santa Fe Railroad, and the Knights of Labor 

 announced that they would support the union. 

 On June 28 the boycott spread to nearly all the 

 important roads west of Chicago. The Railway 

 Union ordered a strike of all its members 

 throughout the West, and it was estimated that 

 nearly 40,000 men were out. On June 29 the 

 boycott against the cars of the Pullman Com- 

 pany resolved itself into a fight against the 

 General Managers' Association at Chicago, 

 which was said to have been organized " for the 

 sole purpose of crushing the American Railway 

 Union out of existence." The union officers de- 

 cided to concentrate their fight against the rail- 

 roads represented in that organization, and 

 ordered strikes on roads that did not use Pull- 

 man cars. These orders included men on the 

 Rock Island, Burlington, Chicago and Alton (sec- 

 ond order), Chicago and Erie, Chicago and East- 

 ern Illinois, Monon, Fort Wayne (second order), 

 Wabash, Chicago and Great Western, and Lake 

 Shore. The employees of the Union Stockyards 

 Transit Company also went on strike. 



Thus far there had been no deeds of violence, 

 but on June 28 a mob of 1.000 strikers at Ham- 

 mond, Ind., stopped the New York and Chicago 

 Limited on the Erie road, and compelled the 

 trainmen to detach the Pullman coaches and 

 side track them. The sheriff, powerless to pre- 

 vent the action of the mob, called upon the Gov- 

 ernor for troops. On June 29 violence was done 

 at Ludlow. Ky., and at St. Paul an engineer and 

 a fireman was stoned. On June 30 the Diamond 

 Special on the Illinois Central Railroad was de- 

 railed by strikers, and Pullman cars were side 

 tracked at Riverdale, 111. By this time the 

 trouble had reached across to the Pacific, the 

 Southern Pacific having been drawn into it, and 

 there were disturbances in Colorado and Cali- 

 fornia. On July 1 the Trades and Labor As- 

 sembly, the largest labor body in Chicago, 

 adopted resolutions tendering all the aid possible 

 to the American Railway Union, and empower- 

 ing its executive board to act as it thought best. 



For the first time in the history of strikes in 

 this country a new element now appeared the 

 United States Government. The Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, on June 28, instructed the district attorney 

 in Chicago to protect the mail trains with United 

 States marshals. On July 1 Edwin Walker 

 was appointed special United States attorney 

 for the purpose of enforcing the laws relating to 

 the protection of the mails and the various 



